Inflection is everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do Americans call the game of table tennis? Do we say, \u201cping pong<\/em>\u201d? No. We call it \u201cping<\/em> pong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In English, men\u2019s names such as David, Matthew, Isaac, Daniel, are emphasized on the first syllable. We tend to inflect with emphasis. In other languages inflection is handled differently. In Turkish, for example, even a four-syllable man\u2019s name such as Selahattin [\u201cSe-la-ha-teen\u201d] has equal emphasis on each syllable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inflection can make all the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine a husband and wife: One says something, tells a story, perhaps makes a request, and the other says, \u201cYes, dear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, is that \u201cYes, dear, I fly to do thy bidding, I fall at your feet, I adore the ground you walk on\u201d? Or is that \u201cYes, dear, grumble, grumble, darn you, drat this day anyway\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inflection. Such a simple thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would be good to know the inflection the questioners put on their words when they came to question John.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have yet another John the Baptist lesson this Third Sunday of Advent. John\u2019s gospel tells the story of priests and Levites from Jerusalem, sent by Jews to ask John, \u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many ways to ask that question. To snivel and snarl: \u201cWho are<\/em> you?\u201d To be downright rude and dismissive: \u201cWho<\/em> are you<\/em>?\u201d Or like the caterpillar blowing smoke rings in \u201cAlice in Wonderland,\u201d rather haughty and arrogant and curious: \u201cWhooooo. Are<\/em>. You?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inflection is everything, and clearly, it\u2019s an important question they are asking John. The identity of John the Baptist is explored, questioned, established in all four gospels. He is asked this question in today\u2019s reading in the context of \u201ctestimony,\u201d according to John\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a question that Jesus much later puts to his disciples, challenging them to answer: \u201cWho do you, my disciples, say I am?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story of John the Baptizer is in all the gospels. That level of agreement between evangelists is unusual, so this must be something significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWho are you?\u201d they ask John.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And what is his answer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n John says he is not the Christ, not the Messiah \u2013 not Elijah or any other hero. He says he is not the prophet. John says, \u201cI am the voice of one crying in the wilderness \u2018Make straight the way of the Lord.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This quotes a lovely passage from the prophet Isaiah, but what does it mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark\u2019s gospel makes things a little clearer by invoking a passage from the prophet Malachi: \u201cI am sending my messenger before you to prepare your way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in the Gospel of Luke we hear a fuller text from Isaiah:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPrepare the way of the Lord. The religious authorities had sent folks to question John, and John quoted scripture to them. Their own scripture! Their own prophet. Every one of them would have been familiar with this text, would have recognized it. They knew it, studied it, memorized it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even in our own day, when most of us know very little of the Bible, we will recognize this passage from Isaiah because we listen to Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah\u201d at this time of year. Do any of you, in hearing the words of this passage, hear Handel\u2019s music in the background? Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah\u201d plays on PA systems in department stores, and in many communities it is a center point of holiday celebration. This is a well-known biblical passage in our day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In John\u2019s day, it was the focus of their hope for a Messiah, a great leader and liberator sent from God. They knew these words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The people came to John and asked, \u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And John answered: \u201cI am a voice \u2013 a voice crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make paths straight. Fill in low places. Level the high places. Make the crooked bits straight. Make the rough places smooth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It sounds a lot like instructions for highway engineers, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are roads in this country \u2013 perhaps you have driven one? \u2013 that are mostly straight, perhaps even mostly flat, with just one interesting curve. Just one single, solitary, interesting curve. And the road engineers and safety folks decide that one interesting curve has to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea, we are told, is that accidents often happen at such places, and straightening the curve and flattening the land makes it a safer road. That is essentially the idea with Isaiah\u2019s prescription that John quotes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And John said, \u201cPrepare!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The season of Advent, which runs from late November or early December until Christmas Eve, is all about preparation. We know we\u2019re preparing for the birth of a baby, and some of us may even know that we\u2019re expecting the Messiah to come \u2013 but there\u2019s more to it than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n John says to the people, \u201cPrepare!\u201d Not \u201cI am preparing,\u201d but \u201cYou<\/em> prepare.\u201d Prepare the way of the Lord. Prepare the world: Lift up, bring down, straighten, smooth. Level the field on which my people stand, John might say, so that all of my people can bask in the glory of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If this lesson is to be instructive at all, then we must hear and heed John the Baptist\u2019s proclamation of God\u2019s Word. If this lesson is to be instructive for us, then this is also our proclamation, rooted in baptism. We are baptized in the manner of John\u2019s baptizing \u2013 with water, but in the knowledge of Jesus and strengthened by the promised Holy Spirit of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That lays on us some obligations, some responsibilities, which are part of our baptism by definition. Not luxuries. Not conditional. Not optional. Promises made. Vows taken. The proclamation of the Lord\u2019s coming put in our mouths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not just John who carries the news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is part of the story of Jesus, included in all the gospels and read in Christian communities for nearly 2,000 years to remind us, to embolden us, to open our mouths. Prepare the way of the Lord \u2013 even as we are lifting up and filling in and smoothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So not only are we to do the work of making that field level, we are to proclaim the work to others in the building up of community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The men who were sent to question John asked him why he was baptizing if he wasn\u2019t the Messiah. In other words, \u201cYou\u2019re not one of the important ones. Why bother?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Listen for the inflection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n John, in essence, said: \u201cI do this because I can do no other. I have heard the news, and my mouth is opened, and my heart must love.\u201d When John is later asked about Jesus, he says, \u201cThis joy of mine is now full.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Old Testament scholar and theologian Walter Brueggemann reminds us:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAdvent is anticipation of the new community<\/em> in the world, wrought by the power of Jesus, mandated by the way of Jesus, and living toward the hope of Jesus. \u2026 The person of Jesus presses us to think about the people of Jesus<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Paul\u2019s words, from today\u2019s epistle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAdmonish the idle. Encourage the fainthearted. Help the weak. Be patient with all of them. Do not repay evil for evil. Pray constantly. Give thanks in all things. Hold fast to what is good. Rejoice always!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have the joyful duty of this proclamation laid upon us, placed in our hearts for our lives together \u2013 and in our mouths for the world to know about the goodness of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is more to Advent than an early \u201cMerry Christmas!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n How will you<\/em> proclaim what you know? Remember: inflection is everything!<\/p>\n\n\n\n This sermon was written by the Rev. Machrina L. Blasdell<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Inflection is everything. What do Americans call the game of table tennis? Do we say, \u201cping pong\u201d? No. We call it \u201cping pong.\u201d In English, men\u2019s names such as David, Matthew, Isaac, Daniel, are emphasized on the first syllable. We tend to inflect with emphasis. In other languages inflection is handled differently. 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Make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled \u2013
Every mountain and hill shall be made low.
And the crooked shall be made straight \u2013
And the rough ways made smooth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n